Los Angeles daily herald., 1887-05-29
SNAKE CHARMING.
A Veteran Explains the ART OF
Reptile Handling.

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Among the small, low buildings that
form the river end Of Roosevelt street,
there is one in the windows OF which
may be seen almost any day, several
monkeys, q parrot or two and number
of canary birds. As you open the
door a room, twenty feet by about thirty,
meets your eye, aud around the edge OF
which are cages filed with pet animals
and birds. The most conspicu-
ous objects, however, are a
long. narrow box, looking like a
big sea chest and painted red, and the
proprietor of the place, a well-built
pleasant.faced, hearty Scotchman. The
latter is Donald Burns, famous as a
snake-charmer, and the box is the cage
of the largest snake ever brought to this
country. Learning that Mr.. Burns was
teaching young woman how to become
a snake charmer, reporter for the Mail
and Express called upon him yesterday
for some particulars Of the process.
''But must fret tell you about my
king of snakes" said the man. He
stepped to the long box, opened first the
wooden lid, and then the glass top I'M
derneath it, exposing to view an i'm.
mense black and brown spotted anacon-
da, coiled and apparently asleep. The
particulars of this monster, which he
gave, were that it was twenty-five feet
long. weighed about 200 pounds, meas
ured thirty inches in circumference at
it's thickest point, and was worth 5000.
1t was captured on the banks OF the
Amazon river. The other day when it
felt hungry IL ate sixteen rabbits, one
after another in quick succession.
81 have been in the snake business
thirty years." added Mr.. Burns, "and |
have handled l0,0O0 snakes, but l never
saw one before as large as this. l
shouldn't care to handle that fellow
alone"
s.What does it cost woman to learn
to be a snake charmer"
"Well, from $500 to $500, according
to how readily they learn. This, of
course, includes the whole thing-not
only how to handle the snakes, bnt also
to do different tricks with them, which
are all combined in what is known as the
snake act. This consists in making q
cap or turban of the snake and putting
it on the head; making sash of one by
arranging it around the body; belt by
placing it around the waist, or pair OF
wristlets of small snakes. The act also
includes putting all these on the person
at one time, 60 that the body is covered
with snakes, eight or nine of them at a
time. When covered with them in this
way the woman supports about 20O
pounds of snakes, and can scarcely
walk"
ONLY THREE IN THIS COUNTRY.
"How many women snake-charmera
are there?'
"Only three in this country can do the
snake act. They are Miss Arlington,
whom l finished teaching last week;
Zula de Manti, now in Boston, and
another. Miss Arlington learned in -four
weeks. Her husband is connected with
Barnum's. and as she wanted to travel
with the show and earn something, she
came to me to learn to handle snakes.
She can do the full act now that COM
mands SlOO a week. She is only twenty.
three years old and was very timid at
first. for she never had q snake in her
hand in her life. First l teach them all
about the life and habits OF the
snakes. There is great dealin know.
ing the nature of snakes, particularly
the position they get in when they are
about to strike. After they strike once
they never get over it. When they once
bite you they will try to do 1t again
every chance they get. No we don't
give them any drug nor rub them quiet
beforehand, as many people suppose.
All that is necessary is to show them
that you are not afraid Of them. So,
after the woman gets confidence in her
work, she can get along all right. get
the snake teach them with under con-
troll. and then allow the woman to begin
to handle it. You see, snakes have
brains as we'll as other animals. They
never close their eyes. and watch all tine
time.
"After / put the snake in the woman's
hand. then / point out what positions
the snake must be in and what position
the woman must be In to lift and handle
it. Why, if you know how. when
snake is even in q striking attitude you
can lift it up and not be bitten. A pc
culiarity of snakes is that they take
] more naturally to woman than to a
man. The women become very fond
of them, too. They make regular
pets of them and give them names.
One of the women trained has got a
snake that is so fond of her that it will
of its own accord put its head up
and kiss her whenever she comes close
to it. That snake is about ten feet long.
The young woman just trained bought
nine snakes. When performing with
them she wears an oriental costume OF
soft goods. The complete cost OF
woman snake-charmers outfit Is about
$500. They have to buy the snakes,
costume, wire fences in which to per.
form, cages, blankets to keep the snakes
warm and peculiar kind of jugs to keep
warm water in to keep them warm.
You see the cold weather kills off the
snakes very quickly ii they are
not properly cared for. and their
owner can't afford to loose them. They
must be given warm bath every week,
too. They bathe themselves, and at
the same time generally drink some OF
the water. For feed you want to give
them live rabbits, Guinea pigs and
chickens. But they must do their own
killing or they won't eat. A peculiar
fact about them is that they only cal
when they cast their coat, which il
about three times year. Sometimes
they will go longer than that without
eating. I had one that went without
food six months, but this is rare.
"The cost of the snakes varies from
S35 to $3.50 and 5000 apiece, and in
weight they run from 100 pounds down
to 80, 10 and even pounds. All this
f1aIsar n alra to x,aala IL
tame and easy to handle is nonsense.
They are simply like any other wild ami
NAL. In charming them we use no mes
merism or anything of the kind. It's
only to make them know that you are
master, to 20 at them without fear.
No, its not every woman who can
be suake-charmer. As a rule,
they don't have patience enough. The
great points to get woman to have
confidence that they won't bite her,
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